The Kattawar Brothers

Remember the music that set your toes tapping, put a smile on your face, and made you want to get up and move. That`s the music the Kattawar Brothers play; downhome mudbottom boogie woogie blues on piano and drums. These guys play so well that you can`t believe that much music could come from just two instruments.

Jerry Kattawar (piano) is the entertainer. His stage antics keeps the crowd electrified. His hands and feet are never still. When his feet aren`t stomping out the rhythm they are up on the keys adding a third part to his music. He exudes energy and performs with a zeal that leaves the audience breathless. Jerry interacts with his audience, they know he is performing for them, with them, and that they are the most important part of the show.

Mike Kattawar (drums) is the foundation. He lays down that steady beat and even during the wildest stunts brother Jerry pulls he never falters. His drumming is clean and dead on. The only thing more amazing than Jerry Kattawar shinning up the stage support to stand on the roof and sing is to see Mike, drum sticks a blur, sweat pouring off him, keeping that beat no matter what else is going on.

Their dedication to the blues and to the music of the delta make Mike and Jerry Kattawar ideal presenters of the blues as well. They are the hosts of the Jukehouse Stage at the Mississippi Delta Blues Festival in Greenville, Mississippi. This is one of the oldest Blues Festivals and the Jukehouse stage is an intimate setting where blues legends and new talent are presented intermixed with Kattawar humor and energy.

The brothers grew up in Greenville, listening to blues late at night on WLAC from Nashville. They got interested in the music of B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and other Mississippi blues musicians through these programs and began trying to learn to play themselves.Jerry began playing the piano when he was twelve. The family had an old upright piano that their father kept locked up to keep the children from "banging" on it and knocking it out of tune. In order to practice, Jerry would unscrew the small hasp lock on the piano while his father was gone at work and practice until right before it was time for him to come home. Jerry would then close up the piano and re-attach the lock.Jerry and his brothers began working as musicians while they were still teenagers. They started in local bands, performing around Greenville at private parties and at American Legion Hall dances. When Jerry graduated from high school, he hooked up with some Arkansas-based musicians, including future country star Conway Twitty. For the next several years he traveled throughout the country, performing on package shows and dances with different groups. Today Jerry and his brother Mike have put together a two-piece drums and piano duo. The Kattawar Brothers continue to be much in demand for audiences both large and small, young and old. They are keeping alive the music traditions of the Deep South as well as the stories of its musicians, many of whom they have known.